Web Server Hosting
Whether you are just getting started on your website or are looking for a new hosting solution, you will need to understand how hosting works. In short, websites are hosted on physical servers that deliver the website to the internet via HTTP requests. This simply means that when someone enters your website’s domain name or clicks on a search result for such in search engines, the web server will process the request and load your website.
At StatCounter, we provide our members with information to help them improve their website, such as the most popular web pages of your site or where the majority of your traffic comes from. This can help you fine-tune your SEO strategy to make your website is more visible online. Before you sign up for StatCounter, or upgrade to our Growth Plan, let us fill you in on web server hosting.
Suggested Reading
What are Web Servers?
In order to have your website live and accessible to the public, you will need to have it hosted on a physical server. This may sound simple, but there are a number of choices you will have to sift through in web hosting to find the right solution for you. Some of the most popular web server hosting solutions are detailed below.
Dedicated Servers
Businesses that receive a fair amount of traffic typically need a dedicated server to handle the high amount of server requests. Without a dedicated server, websites of this size would have a slow page load speed, which can cause visitors to leave your site before the server request is complete. This action is called a bounce, and a high bounce rate can have a negative effect on your search result rankings. In short, if you have noticed an uptick in traffic to your site and a slower load speed, you might want to consider switching to a dedicated server.
Shared Server
Another web server hosting option is to use a shared server. In this, a physical server is divided among several websites and resources are pulled from the same server. Shared hosting is a great option for websites that are just getting started since they will naturally receive less traffic than an older domain. Once your site begins receiving more traffic, you can easily transfer it over to a dedicated server to keep up with the increased server requests.
VPS Hosting
Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a hybrid of both shared and dedicated hosting. In this, you are using a shared physical server, however, each website is hosted on a virtual machine that is power by the physical server.The resources on that physical server are divided equally among the websites hosted on it. This avoids problems shared servers run into. For example, if a large website is on a shared server and it uses too many resources, the other websites can crash or load slowly. This is not the case with VPS hosting since the server's resources are divided equally.
Cloud Hosting
Another type of hosting that has grown in popularity in recent years is cloud hosting. In short, there are three types of cloud hosting: Software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and platform-as-a-service (PaaS). SaaS is used to offer software solutions over the internet. PaaS, on the other hand, is utilized for businesses developing, running, and managing their own applications. And IaaS is used for virtualized hardware or computing infrastructure that can be customized to fit their needs.
As our trusted domain and web hosting provider, 1&1 offers a range of affordable yet high-quality web hosting solutions. Better yet, most of their plans come with a free SSL certificate for added security. 1&1 also has a reputation as one of the best web hosting providers in the entire world.
Choosing a Hosting Solution
When looking for the right hosting solution for your website, there are a number of things you need to consider. The size of your website, for example, is one of the most important. As mentioned before, larger websites that receive a high-volume of traffic each month will likely need a something more feasible for their site, like a dedicated server. Smaller websites, on the other hand, can easily make due with a shared server.
Another thing to consider is the price of each hosting service. Shared server hosting is an inexpensive solution and is often a good place for new websites that have little to no revenue to start. Dedicated, cloud, and VPS hosting get a little bit more expensive, and depending on the hosting company you choose, could come with other features, like a free SSL certificate for improved security.
Track Your Progress with StatCounter
Once you have chosen a web server hosting company, you will need to set up StatCounter’s tracking code to begin tracking the progress and health of your website. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with StatCounter or our Growth Plan, you can complete the form below to get in touch with StatCounter member support and we will reach out to you shortly.
Share this article
Understand your visitors with Statcounter
See why over 1,500,000 bloggers, web designers, marketing and SEO professionals and small business owners around the world use Statcounter to grow their business.
Learn More